A Durham tax preparer pleads guilty in Federal Court and now faces a minimum sentences of 3 years in prison

Laurean S. Robinson, 31, a Durham return preparer, pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina to filing false tax returns.

Documents filed with the court, from 2012 through 2014, showed Robinson worked as the office manager and a return preparer at Tax Breaks, a tax preparation business in Durham.

Robinson admitted to preparing returns for her clients that fraudulently claimed they earned income tax credit and sought inflated refunds, wrote a Dept. of Justice spokesperson.

The spokesperson added, that to qualify her clients for the earned income tax credit, Robinson falsely reported that they earned income providing household services, such as babysitting and care-taking and that she trained other Tax Breaks employees to prepare false returns in a similar fashion.

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In addition to fees charged by Tax Breaks, Robinson also often required her clients to pay her an additional fee in cash, wrote a Dept. of Justice spokesperson, “Robinson’s criminal conduct caused a tax loss to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) of approximately $600,737.”

Robinson faces a statutory maximum sentence of three years in prison, a period of supervised release, restitution and monetary penalties. She is scheduled to appear for sentencing on Aug. 15.